Forum Discussion
Removing data from .pbix file?
I've just been trying this myself and observed different behaviour depending on how you save the .pbit
File > Save As > .pbit = File size roughly equal to the original report
File > Export > Power BI Template = Significantly reduced file size
The thing is that our data is on the cloud and we see no point in having a copy of it in a csv file.
R is something we'll explore soon when we start playing with involved analytics.
TY
Just to confirm, which file size did you observe? My template file (.pbit) will be much smaller than the .pbix file.
A Power BI Report Template contains the definition of the Report (pages, visuals, etc.), Data Model definition (schema, relationships, measures, etc.) and Queries definition (collection of queries, including Query Parameters, etc.). In other words, a Power BI Report template includes pretty much everything that a Report file includes, with the exception of the data itself.
Best Regards,
Herbert
I've just been trying this myself and observed different behaviour depending on how you save the .pbit
File > Save As > .pbit = File size roughly equal to the original report
File > Export > Power BI Template = Significantly reduced file size
That's because the template removed the loaded data. As it's name suggest, it is just a template
Agreed. I was pointing out that the OP may have experienced the same where Save As template doesn't reduce the file size, but Export as template does.
You are totally right. Exporting as PBIT did the trick.
It's unfortunate that I never received your reply when you made it. (Came across it by accident today and after testing can confirm that it works.)
Thank you very much.
The templates are reduce to the same size for both "Save As" and for Export - it looks like Microsoft may have fixed the issue with Save As Template since this discussion took place over a year ago. I started with a 41 MB file (one million rows), and the PBIT templates save and export as 24 KB.
Hi Herbert. This is exactly what we want to accomplish but alas it's not working out. See image below.
When I open the file it asks for the custom query parameters that we've set up and also right away goes into Data Refresh mode which indicates that we are on the right track. Unfortunately the file size remains huge.
I even tried creating a .pbit from scratch and as soon as I save it the file size jumps.
Are you doing the DirectQuery method or Import method? Could that be the difference?
DirectQuery is not an option for us because it limits the capabilities too much.
I'm also doing the Import mode. What about the solution provided by MattAllington?
Best Regards,
Herbert
Matt's option is very involved and with a small team of people with different tech skills will be hard to implement.
We have to use Import method so are still looking for a solution. Thank you.
